


Jupiter's Tempest

by windowcat



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood and Gore, F/M, Horror, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Teens, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:48:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25444912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windowcat/pseuds/windowcat
Summary: Ally is an unremarkable high school girl. Her two best friends suddenly returned from out of state after being away for three years. They've become handsome boys, and she couldn't help but fall in love with one of them. Just when she thought her young life couldn't be better, a tragic event at a friend's party changed her life and the entire world forever.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Novel's playlist: GAIA Moons of Jupiter

Did she ever think she was beautiful? She never given it much thought, but at this moment, more than ever, she hoped that she was. For before her stood her childhood best friend Aiden Jones, who after three years of not seeing each other had become an extremely handsome boy.

He was tall, with dark slightly curly hair, thick eyebrows and eyelashes, deep set bright blue eyes, high cheekbones, tall forehead, and a pretty smile. How did the awkward quiet kid with round cheeks and a constant worried expression turn into _that_?

When she saw him for the first time in so long, she suddenly became aware of her appearance and that it was painfully inadequate. She was totally unprepared for this turn of events, neither for her sudden rush of emotions. She was Ally Hedder, and she fell in love on the spot with Aiden.

She met him for the first time in three years at the freshman orientation for her new high school. They really didn’t keep in touch while being apart, even though they’ve been inseparable before. Aiden was together with Zach Wilson, their other childhood friend, the professional third wheel.

When she saw them both in the hallway before the orientation, the first thing she felt was indescribable joy. She wanted to jump on them and hug them both tightly, but when she approached them, their taller statures and very obvious manliness stopped her. The three of them weren’t kids anymore, they were of opposite gender, and they haven’t yet figured out how their relationship would play out post-puberty. That and the fact that Aiden unexpectedly turned into a hottie made her question everything she knew about him and their relationship since childhood.

“Ally!” He said with surprise and joy.

“Hey Aiden and Zach! When did you two come back!? Why didn’t you tell me?”

They looked at each other, smiling.

“We didn’t want you to make a fuss… So we just snuck back in to surprise you.”

“What do you mean make a fuss? Of course I’m gonna make a fuss! How long has it been?”

Zach put his arm around Aiden’s shoulder, “Exactly three thousand three hundred and five days and twenty eight hours.”

“So specific, and that’s not even right,” Aiden mumbled.

She snorted “Twenty eight hours!”

Zach grinned, pleased at his own bizarre string of numbers. “Anyway, we’re happy to see you too, how’ve you been?” He brushed her nose with his finger, to which she flinched and glared at him. He giggled, “You haven’t changed much, you munchkin. Did you manage to grow half an inch while we were gone?”

“Shut up, and I did too! I grew almost a foot!”

“Oh, wow, a whole foot, that’s impressive,” he said sarcastically, glancing at Aiden. Both of them clearly took off in height like young bamboo shoots.

Zach became good looking as well. He had reddish brown hair, hazel eyes, and a wide smile with perfect teeth, which he showed off constantly. His right eyebrow seemed to retain the habit of climbing up the forehead mischievously just like it did three years ago. He also seemed somewhat more buff than Aiden and wider at the shoulders. Had he been working out? She’d never believe it that the easy going jokester Zach would ever be serious about anything, especially his appearance.

In conclusion of her assessment, they were both handsome, leagues ahead of her. Compared to them, she was plain. Lackluster brown hair in a simple short braid, glasses, jeans and a sweatshirt. There, in the hallway, there were girls who had their hair and nails professionally done, with designer bags and shoes. They would gently toss their hair and smile politely at strangers, perfect in every inch and in every move.

Anyway, other than the boys’ changed appearances, as soon as they started talking, they both seemed so dear to her and so familiar, almost like family. There was instant unspeakable connection between the three of them, the result of constantly hanging out as kids for years. So, they haven’t changed as much on the inside, and she was happy to get her best friends back.

The three of them used to live on the same street, back in the day. Their parents were good friends and would often leave the kids in one house with a babysitter and go out all together. Three years ago, Zach’s and Aiden’s parents decided to open a business in another state and moved away. It seems that they decided to come back, and Ally was hoping that it wasn’t because their business failed.

“The schools there are terrible,” Aiden explained after the orientation, which lasted almost all day. “So our parents decided to send us back to finish high school here.”

It turns out the two boys plus Zach’s dog were sent back to live in Zach’s old house, which was never sold and remained their property. Zach’s grandfather had to move from the north to live with them and supervise the rowdy teens. Their parents’ retail business was doing great, and they promised to visit the boys and see Ally once in a while. Zach also owned a car, an old Mitsubishi, and he drove himself and Aiden three hundred miles, which added massive maturity points for him in Ally’s eyes. She had no clue what to do once she got into a vehicle’s driver seat.

Zach also had a little sister who stayed back with her parents, and Aiden had an older brother who was already in college. Ally was an only child, so the boys sort of became her brothers. Only, not to the extent that she couldn’t feel any romantic feelings for any of them.

Her feelings weren’t baseless, either. Back when they were kids, Aiden and Ally were very close. They were similar in temperament and thus could understand each other from just a glance. They both were quiet and introspective, Aiden even more so, and they liked the same kinds of activities. Zach was a loud, crazy and hyper boy, with a particular and witty or often silly sense of humor, and he loved being around people. Aiden and Ally could play video games for hours, but Zach would get bored and go hang out with other neighborhood boys. He was also in lots of after school clubs and activities, and played competitive soccer for his school. His parents wanted a healthy way to vent his energy, and he didn’t mind.

***

The school year began like the wind that could knock you off your feet. High school was much more involved for the three of them than middle school, so they hardly had any time to hang out. Both Zach and Aiden also needed a tutor to catch up to the curriculum, which diminished their free time to about a couple hours a week.

Zach and Aiden started a science project together that was due at the end of the year, and Ally came over often and helped them. She got into baking and brought them cookies and cakes for snacks every day. They were building an electric gokart.

“You know what Elon Musk did when he started his company?” Aiden started his story. “He just bought a bunch of batteries, like the regular AA batteries you’d put in a flashlight, arranged them in an electric matrix, and got enough power to move a car! Such a simple but genius idea. So I decided to try something similar.”

“And what about you, Zach? What’s in it for you?”

Zach shrugged, “I dunno, it just sounded fun I guess.”

Ally laughed.

“Wow, you got an upgrade, Ally dot fifteen dot two,” he said, eating a cookie she brought.

She chuckled, pleased with her skill and that she could be somewhat useful.

“So, is Elon Musk sort of a hero to you?” Ally asked Aiden.

Aiden frowned, looking up from the pile of metal scrap he brought from a junk yard. “Hero?”

“I mean, do you look up to him a lot?”

He got back to sorting through the pile. “Sure, he’s an inspiration. I love learning about founder stories, like how they started and grew their companies and stuff.”

“So you wanna be like that, too?”

He looked up at her with a smirk. “Yeah, I wanna be like that.” He grinned and she chuckled.

Other than baking, she hasn’t found anything she was interested in. She kinda liked drawing, and she also started a martial arts class, karate, just to learn self defense and get out of the house once in a while other than to go to her school. Her mom suggested dance classes, but Ally was _not_ into dancing at all. So, she admired Aiden’s interest in building stuff and his focus to see the project through. If anything, Aiden was serious and, as they say in their career class, goal-oriented. With the amount of planning the project required, and how much time he’d already spent designing the gokart over the summer, she had no doubt he’d succeed and build a super cool gokart.

“Heh, good thing my best friend is an engineering nerd, so I can tag along for the science credit,” Zach admitted, chewing on the fifth cookie and “supervising” Aiden’s work sorting through the metal parts. “Otherwise I’d have ta do something like a volcano everyone did in elementary school for kiks. But it’ll shoot out chocolate or something like that. And it’d be all chocolate. An edible volcano.”

“Can you even bake?” Ally asked.

He laughed. “No.”

She laughed with him.

“That’s why it’d take me a whole school year to finish. But now, with Aiden, we can build something amazing.”

“Agreed. I’d take a gokart over a chocolate volcano any day.”

“Yeah, plus we can put it in our job resumes,” Aiden said.

“Wow, you’re thinking that far ahead,” Ally was surprised.

“Yeah, my brother John gave me the headsup. Even if you get a college degree, it doesn’t guarantee you a good job nowadays. He’s struggling right now looking for doctors to shadow to get medical field experience. So, he suggested to do something like this if I wanna get into a good engineering school and then get a job. He slacked off his entire high school years and now he’s paying for it. He shoulda ran for school body office, done volunteering, that sorta thing for his med school application. Your career path starts in high school.”

“But what about kids like us who have no idea what they wanna do?” Ally asked.

Zach chuckled. “We just tag along with those kids who know their stuff, I guess, hoping to get at least something useful done.”

“That’s so true.”

During the building project, she learned about welding and electrical circuits, way before her own science class. And she kind of liked it. Aiden explained things very clearly, that even Zach understood.

“Hey, Ally, maybe you can talk to Mr. Thompson and he can give you credit for this project? So by the time you start your physics class you don’t have to do one?” Aiden said to her one day in Zach’s garage where they were working on the gokart.

“Oh!” Ally said.

“’Oh’” Zach mocked her.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea! I’ll talk to him tomorrow!”

“Then I can enter your name on the project’s roster.”

“Thank you!”

“No problem.” Aiden smiled so kindly at her that something inside her chest fluttered. Maybe that was what’s called butterflies in the stomach?

***

October rolled around too quickly, almost enough to give a whiplash. Midterms, papers, career counseling, sports competitions, clubs, and everything the adults could think of to make students’ lives even busier. Zach got himself a girlfriend, Shana, a beautiful girl with ombre-ed wavy blonde hair and nice clothes. She was one of those insta-perfect stylish girls who put hours into their looks every day. They apparently slept four hours a day just to have time for everything like school, clubs, shopping, self-care, boys, friends, and social media.

Ally could never be as disciplined. She always admired girls like that, even though she heard others sometimes talk down to the “bimbos”, calling them shallow or slutty. Ally thought they were good at time management and had their lives together, compared to those who didn’t care about themselves. Shana, for starters, was a sweet girl, who was even a little shy deep down, but she decided to improve her looks in middle school because she enjoyed things like makeup and styling hair. Her circle of friends were also all nice people and treated Ally with kindness.

Aiden founded a small unofficial club at the school for people interested in engineering. It contained mostly boys, and they would eat together in the cafeteria discussing their science projects. They’d come hang out at Zach’s garage sometimes giving critique and ideas on how to proceed with the gokart. Timothy from the “nerd circle” became Aiden’s closest friend, which made Ally a little jealous because Aiden was spending more time with him than with her.

Timothy was a black boy, extremely smart, probably the smartest in their school. He was also mature and well-balanced in his character. He had some sense of humor, some introversion where he could work for hours on a project alone, but also he loved to hang out with friends and talk about nothing. He was friendly with everyone, including strangers, and had no problems making friends with lots of people. Plus he was good looking and cheerful. Talk about a perfect kind of person! Ally couldn’t come close in terms of personality points, and she felt that she was losing to him at getting a spot next to Aiden.

After a few weeks with the engineering kids, Ally realized that they were all there for Aiden. He had a sort of mysterious magnetism about him that drew everyone towards him. He was quiet, but things he said were interesting and outside of anything they experienced in school. Every time he spoke, people listened. And the older he got, the more he displayed this ability.

After the midterms, Timothy decided to host a small party for the engineering kids. It was the end of October, but Timothy’s parents were devout Christians, and he didn’t celebrate Halloween. He invited Aiden, Zach, Ally, Elizabeth, a classmate he was doing a history project with, and two other engineering “club” guys, John and Eric.

Ally decided to bake lots of chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes. They were all fall-themed, since she wanted to respect his choice to stay Haloween-free. There were pumpkin cupcakes decorated with red maple leaf icing, and orange m&m stuffed chocolate chips. She has never been to a party before, even this small, so she was a bit nervous.

And, of course, she had to do something about her appearance. She asked Shana for practical tips and bought a dark blue dress for the party. Shana also suggested to get comfortable shoes that would match her purse, but she had to get a purse first. All this time she’d been using her backpack for all necessities. But her mom helped her pick out the purse and the shoes.

It was a Friday evening. Most other kids went to Halloween parties all over town, but Zach, Aiden, and Ally squeezed into Zach’s two door green Mitsubishi that’s seen better days and headed for Timothy’s. It was getting chilly at night, so Ally had to grab her old brown jacket that totally didn’t match her dress. Her hair was nice and done by her mother with the help of a hair curler, but that darn hood was sticking out on her back and messing it up. She had to keep her pantyhose in mind so that it didn’t catch on anything pointy and got a hole in it. Being beautiful was uncomfortable and required active maintenance and surveillance.

The GPS wasn’t very clear on where the building with Timothy’s condo was. There were several high rise condominium buildings in the area, and they had to drive by each one to try to see the numbers on their brick walls.

“Oh, there, there, number five! Over there,” Zach pointed to a building in the distance.

“Oh, right, right, that’s it,” Aiden agreed from the back seat.

Zach parked the car and they climbed out into the dark and cold parking lot. Aiden entered the door code, and the three of them went inside and rode an elevator up to the twenty second floor. When they came out of the elevator into the common area with four condo units, they saw a large window, floor to ceiling, to their right, overlooking the night city, and it was quite a sight!

“Whoa!” Zach exclaimed.

They stepped closer and admired the view of the night lights for a few moments.

“Look over there! That’s the mall!” Zach said and pointed at the glass.

“Our house looks like a speck of dust from up here,” Aiden commented.

“Wait, you can see our house?” Zach frowned and squinted, trying to find their neighborhood, wrapping his hands around the sides of his face and pressing them against the glass to block out the peripheral light.

“No, dummy, you can’t see it without binoculars.”

“Oh, but you said…”

“A speck of dust.”

“Whatever.” Zach rolled his eyes and decided not to get sucked into Aiden’s too-deep-for-his-own-good word games again.

Timothy opened the door with a welcome smile and a welcome laugh. He was wearing a white long sleeve tee, and Ally could admit she thought he looked handsome. Aiden was still better, though.

Everybody else was already there, and it smelled nice of cooked meat. John and Eric, two of the engineering “club” members, were playing a video game at Timothy’s huge TV in the living room straight ahead, and Elizabeth was sitting on the arm of the couch, drinking something from a plastic cup and watching the game.

They turned when the three walked in and greeted them.

Timothy showed them to the small kitchen, which was immediately to the left from the entrance. There was an island in the middle of the kitchen, and it was full of snacks and various foods like cheese, deli meats, bread, sauces, etc. Except for the kitchen, it was dark inside the condo, only small table lights illuminated the place. A small multi-colored ball on a side table shot out blue, pink, green, yellow, and purple specks onto the ceiling and walls.

Ally hanged her hoodie on the hook at the door and walked towards the kitchen while Aiden and Zach talked with Timothy about their gokart project. She noticed beer cans on the counter, wet with condensation – must have been right out of the fridge. She grabbed a plate and put a piece of cheese, some chips and dip, some turkey slices, and a piece of bread on her plate. She was a little nervous, so she couldn’t eat too much.

“Hey, Ally, you look nice,” Elizabeth greeted her. She was a slightly chubby girl of the same height as Ally, with prominent cheeks, round brown eyes, pale skin, and brown hair. She often had a sarcastic smirk on her face and behaved as if she was just observing the world, never actively engaging in anything emotionally. She was still friendly, though, but Ally had a feeling Elizabeth had her own inner world that she wouldn’t share and truly become besties with a single soul out there.

“Hey, how are you?” They shared a hug. “Thank you, you look nice, too!”

The boys all talked at the paused game, and then Aiden and Zach headed for the kitchen, as well.

“Ooh, Blue Moon, nice!” Zach commented.

“What is that? Ranch?” Aiden pointed at a sauce in a little bowl.

“Oh, I dunno, I think Timothy’s dad prepared that,” Elizabeth explained.

“Wow, really? I gotta try this!”

He plopped a spoon full on his plate, plus a few other snacks and foods, and started to exit the kitchen when he saw a chocolate cake cut up into pieces tucked hidden between the counter-top microwave and the fridge. He put two pieces on his plate and, when passing Ally, dumped one piece on her plate without a word.

“Oh!… Thanks.”

He walked over to the couch to watch the game.

Elizabeth followed him with her big brown eyes and then looked at Ally, who without a thought in the world started to dig into her plate.

“Oh shoot!” Ally exclaimed loudly.

Zach, Aiden, Timothy, and Elizabeth startled and looked at her.

“We forgot the cookies in the car!”

“Oh!” Aiden replied, “Right!”

“Geez! I’ll be right back!”

“I’ll go with you,” Aiden said, getting up and putting his plate down on the table.

“Here’re the keys,” Zach yelled from the couch with his mouth full and tossed them to Aiden.

Ally put on her jacket and they left to get the cookies.

“Cookies?” Timothy asked Zach with hope in his eyes. He had so much food in his house, and yet the idea of homemade cookies was delectable.

“Oh, yeah, Ally baked something for you.”

“Wow, I gotta thank her. I love her cookies!”

Ally went inside the elevator with Aiden, and an awkward silence descended on them. She didn’t know how to talk to him anymore. She was afraid to reveal her feelings for him, but at the same time she didn’t want to treat him like a buddy or a brother. How do you even talk to guys?

“You look pretty,” Aiden said quietly, which was plenty loud in the enclosed space of the elevator.

She quickly looked at him and looked down, feeling her face getting hot.

“Um, thanks.”

She was thinking of something nice to say in return, but by the time she opened her mouth, the elevator door opened. Aiden stayed still for a moment, waiting for her to exit first, and then followed her out. They headed for Zach’s car, which was parked near the front and visible through the sparkling glass wall where the entrance door into the building was located.

“I’m so sorry for forgetting the cookies,” she apologized.

“Oh, no, we all forgot about them,” he laughed. She noticed he was a bit awkward, too. But he was definitely less talkative with her than before his move to the other state. Memories of their friendship started to flood into her mind, and memories of feelings and emotions, which were all warmth, care, platonic love, enjoyment, understanding, and content. How can they tap into that comfortable friendly relationship routine again? They were both a little different and a little same as their past selves.

Aiden lifted the trunk door, grabbed one bag with the cupcakes and handed it to her.

“When are you gonna bake _me_ some cookies?”

She paused with the bag in her hand, staring at him and puzzled by the question.

“What do you mean? I’ve been bringing cookies to Zach’s since the beginning.”

He turned towards the car, took the other bag and closed the trunk.

“I meant for me, personally.” He didn’t look at her when he said that. Was he being shy?

Ally’s breath stopped and she felt a wave of hotness roll up through her body.

“Uh… Of course!” She breathed the words out, feeling stiff and nervous.

He glanced at her sideways and said with a small smile, “Don’t make me wait.”

“Right… I won’t.”

He put his hands in his pockets, with a bag of cookies hanging from his wrist, and walked first to the front door to the building to enter the code.

Ally’s knee jerk answer would’ve been “Never!” but she thought that would’ve been cheesy and cringey. She followed him, dumbfounded, and feeling like her brains were scrambled. She thought he was probably flirting, but was it real? Maybe he was just teasing her for old time’s sake?

Once in the elevator, she sighed inaudibly and nervously. Aiden was like an oven, and she felt the heat on her skin in his direction, or maybe it was just pheromones, she didn’t know. Her hair was standing up on her arms and legs, and she didn’t know how she’ll survive the trip up to the twenty second floor.

Her skin nearest to him literally felt tingly, was that normal? She became suddenly aware of smells in the elevator and of Aiden, the tiny sounds he was making like breathing, clearing his throat, swallowing saliva – it was deafening.

As soon as the elevator door opened, she took off from the spot trying to get away as far as possible from her embarrassment. How could she be so creepy towards someone she respected and cared for!?

The atmosphere inside the condo’s come alive. Zach was now at the console, going through a difficult level, killing monsters at the speed of light on the screen. The rest of the squad were cheering on him and yelling for new threats around him. When he passed the level, he dropped the game control on the floor, got up with arms in the air, and yelled “Whoohoo!” along with the others. John and Timothy patted him on the shoulders, laughing.

“Good job!” Elizabeth praised him.

Then everyone turned their attention to Ally and Aiden going into the kitchen with interesting looking shopping bags full of goodies.

“Whatcha got there?” Timothy swung by like a bee over a flower, looking into the bags with curiosity.

“So here’s the m&m cookies,” Ally explained, getting the cookie box out of the bag. She opened the lid and set the base on the counter.

Timothy immediately went for one, as did Aiden, and Elizabeth, who were the closest. Zach was behind Elizabeth, and he pushed a hand between people to grab a handful.

Aiden also set the cupcakes next to the cookies.

“Oh these are so cute!” Timothy said. “And the cookies are freaking delicious! Thank you, Ally!”

“You are welcome! Thank you for inviting us!”

When the cookies were almost gone, as well as half of the cupcakes, everyone went to sit back down at the couch and start another level.

Zach was leading with John and Eric following him in a first person shooting game which Ally has never seen before. It had pretty nice graphics but it seemed a bit “indie”, it lacked certain elements of big commercial games like dramatic music, the particular voice overs, etc.

When they were at a crucial point of the level where they needed to cross a bridge that had enemy snipers set up all around, there was a front door bell ring.

Timothy frowned and raised his head up to look at the door.

“Weird, I didn’t invite anyone else, and we aren’t being particularly loud for the neighbors to come complaining…”

The bell rang again with more intensity, and Timothy got annoyed and walked over to the door. Everyone else was glued to the screen as Zach stepped out of the corner and shot one sniper off the roof.

Suddenly, the room went quiet. Ally looked around and saw everyone staring at the door, not paying attention to the game at all. She turned her head and saw Zach standing at the door with his arm around the shoulders of his girlfriend Shana. Timothy backed away from the door and looked back at the couch where Zach was holding the game control, stunned.

The second Zach took his hand off his girlfriend and looked at her and then back at Zach on the couch straight ahead.

“What the hell…” He said, just as shocked as everyone else.


	2. Chapter 2

The atmosphere changed in the blink of the eye. Ally felt a faintly ominous sense from something that was very wrong and should not have been possible.

Shana looked between Zach on the couch and Zach right beside her with her mouth open.

Timothy rubbed the back of his head. “Dude, is this some kinda joke? Why do you look like Zach?”

Zach at the door protested, even getting a little offended at the accusation. “Dude, I’m not the one joking, it’s probably him who did something.” He pointed at the one on the couch.

“What!? No, I didn’t!”

“Is this, like, your throwback to Halloween? Dressing up like Zach? Except you even have his face,” Elizabeth said quietly. “Pretty good actually.”

Shana freaked out and jumped away from Zach beside her, sticking her hands out in a “stop” gesture. “Dude, this isn’t funny! You even kissed me! What’s going on?” She looked at Zach on the couch, getting very upset.

The first Zach got up from the couch after pausing the game, and everyone else gathered around the couple who had just entered the condo. The door was open, but nobody noticed because they were preoccupied with Zach’s strange double at the moment.

“It’s like a deepfake only in real life,” John noted.

The two Zachs indeed were identical. When the first Zach approached the second, nobody could tell the difference. They were even wearing the same clothes.

“Wait, Shana, how did you two get here?” Aiden asked.

“On his car, why?”

Aiden looked at Ally and Timothy, starting to look concerned.

He gulped. “We also got here on his car…”

Everyone paused. This got weirder by the moment.

Timothy asked with a shaky voice, “Y-you didn’t… happen to see his license plates?”

She frowned. “No, why would I? I’ve been riding in that car for ages, it’s the same old car. Who would even look for license plates? I mean, even if he changed them, I wouldn’t…” she stopped herself and looked between the two Zachs standing very close staring at each other. Her face turned dark and bluish with extreme unease. She looked like she wanted to leave.

Timothy looked the most concerned out of all of them. His eyebrows knit together with worry. It looked like he was subconsciously taking responsibility for resolving this bizarre problem.

“Alright, let’s do one of those ‘if you know me you know stuff about me’ test they do in the movies in this type of situation.” Timothy offered, and it immediately had a calming effect on everyone.

The similarity of the two Zachs was unnerving. Was one of them a long lost twin that they never knew Zach had, and he came over to the party play a prank on them?

“Oh, yeah, good idea, Timmy,” the first Zach approved. “We can quickly determine that I’m the real Zach. Let’s make a bet to make things interesting,” he said, looking at the second.

The second Zach smirked. “Oh yeah? You are so sure of yourself! I’m the real Zach so I’d love to bet and win me some loot.”

Ally looked at both Zachs intently, standing to the side and a little distance away behind Aiden. She was scared and confused. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t tell the difference between the two, even after knowing Zach very well for many years. If this was an impersonation, it was spot on.

Timothy started, “I don’t know Zach that well, but he shared a story with me about pranking his math teacher once that he hated-“

“Oh yeah,” Aiden grinned wide.

Both Zachs looked at Timothy with a smirk.

“What was that _real_ Zach did to the teacher? You,” he nodded at the second Zach, “Answer.”

“I put red food paint on her chair and then a tampon on her desk with a note saying, ‘Don’t thank me!’” He smiled. “The whole class knew about the prank ahead of time, and they all hated her, too. So after she ran to the bathroom with the most hilarious face, we never laughed so much as a class as we did that time.”

The first Zach’s face turned serious, and we went quiet. He stared at the second one with his eyes slightly narrowed, like he was trying to figure out the guy in front of him.

“Shoot the next question, Timmy,” he said. “Ask this guy again.”

Timothy opened his mouth, a word stopped from leaving his throat, and looked at him for a few seconds, thinking. He noticed something. He cleared his throat and continued.

“Uh… What was your first crush’s name?”

Both Zachs immediately turned their heads to him.

“Seriously?!” They yelled at the same time.

It was comical, but Timothy wasn’t laughing. He pulled back a bit from both of them, startled by their reaction.

“Let me ask you this, though,” the second Zach said to the first one. “Who wanted to buy her panties from you?”

The first didn’t want to say it for some time. “Chen,” he said quietly.

“No, that’s the guy who actually bought them. There were three other people.”

The first Zach frowned and looked down, thinking.

“Uh… There was my buddy Dave who just wanted them for kicks… and Boris who was kinda weird I should admit… and…”

“And who elase?”

The first looked at the second. “Kyle?”

The second smirked. “Are you sure?” He looked as if from above even though they were the same height, pleased at himself for knowing the right answer. “Remember? It wasn’t a boy.”

The firsts’ face changed. “Oh… it was Jenna.”

“Wrong!”

The first frowned, looking between the second’s eyes and thinking for a long while.

“What’s the name?” The second demanded.

The first looked down again, concentrating hard.

Ally glanced at Aiden and saw his eyes wide and his expression shocked. He didn’t expect this sort of revelation in this kind of place under these kinds of circumstances. She didn’t know those names, so it must have happened while they were away.

“Maybe I should jog your memory?” The second pulled out his phone from his pocket, the same one as Zach’s. He scrolled through the screen and then turned it to face the first.

“Now do you remember?”

There was a picture of four kids of about twelve-thirteen: Zach, two boys, and a girl.

“Cassie?”

“And the next image is?”

“Is that… me giving her the panties?”

“Precisely! This picture was taken as proof that she bought them so she could give me money when she got her allowance. She was the best friend of the girl you got these from, and she just wanted to return them.”

The first reached for his own phone and scrolled through the images himself. “What the… How do you even have the same exact phone and photos?”

“You are forgetting something.”

“What?” The first looked up from his phone.

“You got the answer wrong.”

The second said it as a threat, and the first took half a step back instinctively. He looked thoroughly confused and shocked. 

“Time to pay up the bet!” An evil smile ran across the second’s face and he moved towards the first in a threatening manner.

“Wait, we didn’t even pick what to bet,” the first mumbled, stepping further back towards the couch.

The second Zach lunged forward and hit the first in the stomach with full strength. The first’s feet lifted off the floor, he gave off a stifled grunt, and then fell on his knees, holding his stomach, struggling to breathe.

John, Eric, and Timothy jumped on the second Zach to restrain him. Timothy was taller, so he put Zach in a headlock, and the two boys grabbed his torso and right arm.

Aiden stepped back and gestured for Ally to move back, without looking away from either Zach.

A cold electric wave of shock ran through Ally’s body when she saw the second Zach hit the first one. The blunt sound his punch made was still ringing in her ears. She’d never seen a fight in real life, and she didn’t expect it to be so carnal.

The second Zach shook off his restrainers with tremendous force. It was like he was much stronger than he appeared. He smirked at the first Zach on the floor, who was looking up at him with a pained and defeated expression. It was like he’s never experienced brutal pain like that before.

Ally’s heart ached. For her, and most everyone else in the room, it became evident that the first Zach was the real Zach. Real Zach was never violent and would’ve never hit another person with so much force and determination.

And when Aiden realized the same thing, he pushed Ally further back into the dark bedroom’s doorway, himself standing just outside. He stuck his hand out behind his back to gesture her to stay in place. His behavior made her even more worried.

Shana ran back towards the kitchen and covered her mouth with both hands.

The three boys tried to tackle the fake Zach again, but it almost made no difference. He looked like he was enjoying bullying the real one, and not only that, it was like it was his goal for a long time to be here and assault him brutally.

He pushed Timothy’s face away with his palm and kneed Zach in the face. Zach anticipated the hit and tried to get out of the direct line of impact, but it still grazed his face, and he fell back. Blood started running from his nose.

The three boys were seriously upset and started fighting with the fake for real. Eric tried to hit him in the stomach and John tackled him from the back, pushing his arms under the intruder’s armpits, to try to put him on the ground. Timothy grabbed him from the front to help Eric to bring him down. The fake Zach put his foot back to brace himself against their weight and then hit Eric in the face. It was a swift and strong hit, and Eric’s body moved back a few steps. He fell and stopped moving.

Timothy and John started hitting him with all their might, but the fake continued to smile and stare at Zach. He hit Timothy with an elbow and then punched John away.

While they were fighting, Zach tried to get up and run from the bully. He got up, staggering and holding his bloody nose, and went to circle around the fight and towards the front door. However, the bully pushed all his opponents away with ease and lunged at Zach with his shoulder, knocking him down.

Aiden looked back at Ally and told her to call 911. He glanced around the room, looking for the rest of the party. Shana was in the kitchen, crouching and holding her head with both hands. Elizabeth was nowhere to be found, perhaps she already left. Timothy, Eric, and John were on the floor. Eric was out cold, Timothy and John were wincing with pain, holding painful parts of their bodies.

The fake Zach was beating down the real one, and no one could stop him. The violent fake was blocking the front door, which was wide open, and it was impossible for anyone to escape. There were voices heard in the common area, it sounded like the neighbors started coming out of their condominiums to check out what was going on.

Ally went further into the room and started calling 911 from her cell quietly. She could still see what was going on in the living room. Aiden was standing in front of the room’s entrance, waiting for the fight to move out of the front doorway so that they could get out as quickly as possible. Ally whispered into the phone Timothy’s address and explained the situation. She didn’t mention that the intruder was Zach’s unknown identical twin.

Timothy started to get up from the floor. He looked around at what was going on and where everyone was, still grimacing from pain. He saw Ally calling in his parents’ dark bedroom, probably police, and Aiden standing guard in front of her. He nodded at Aiden, who did the same, and went back to try to stop the intruder. John was also getting ready for round two.

The evil twin was hitting Zach on the face, stomach, chest, grinning wide and even laughing. He stopped, holding Zach up by his t-shirt, and looked at his bloody fist. He chuckled and pushed Zach to lay on the floor. Zach was barely conscious. His face started to swell, and his eyes couldn’t open all the way. Yet, there was still light in them and he looked at his assailant with bewilderment and as if questioning him with all his being why was this happening what he had done to deserve this.

It was as if he was trying to say, “Look at me, what you are doing to me, is this what you wanted?” He was sad that something like this was possible, and someone like that existed in the world. There was no anger or fear in his expression anymore, only confusion.

The fake Zach stepped back, snorted, and pulled his reddish hair back from his face with a bloody hand, breathing a little heavier than usual. He didn’t take his eyes off Zach, looking at him with triumph and like he had accomplished a long-term goal. He paid no mind to Timothy approaching him, nor the neighbors who started to poke their heads through the front door, nor Ally calling police.

Zach took this chance to crawl back away from him. There was nowhere to go but press against the wall, but instinctively that’s all he could do. The exit was cut off for him.

The fake took a deep breath and moved his shoulders back, cracking his bones. Suddenly, his body started to change. His hands, head, and legs shifted to something entirely inhuman.

Ally froze with tears in her eyes dripping on her phone. Everyone in the room and outside the door held their breath looking at the scene in disbelief.

The intruder remained in his clothes, while his body completely changed to something like an animal. It was hard to see its exact shape in the dim light of the condo, but Ally distinctly saw a long tail and two legs that bent like those of an animal, not standing straight like in a human. It appeared grayish in color, covered with something akin to fish scales, which were in turn made of thick wiry spines. The head had a long snout with teeth, so many teeth.

It was only a brief moment when the creature fully emerged, but then it went straight for terrified Zach.

There was no scream. There was only a blood-curdling cracking sound of crushed bone and torn flesh.

The creature loomed over Zach laying on the floor in the dark corner, tearing and chewing at his tissues. Zach was not moving, and at that moment the scene stopped making sense.

Ally’s vision turned dark. Her brain refused to believe in what was going on, and it was as if it turned off. She saw what was going on, but she just didn’t process it. She couldn’t understand it. She didn’t know where she was, what she was doing, or what was going on.

Shana fell on her knees and threw up on the floor. Everyone else were frozen, unable to look away from the dark corner. After a few moments, Aiden pulled Ally out of the bedroom and ran for the front door, waving his hand at Shana, beconing her to follow him. Timothy saw them running and looked at Eric who was coming to on the floor near the sofa. He ran towards him, intending to pull him out of the condo as well when he heard Aiden suddenly stop running. He looked back to see what happened. There was a figure blocking the light from outside the doorway, and everything changed.

There, in the doorway, stood another Aiden.


End file.
